The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
Homeland defense (HD) is the protection of a territory, sovereignty, domestic population, and critical infrastructure against external threats and aggression.. Not to be confused with Homeland security.
Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements.
In the military of the United States, strikes and raids are a group of military operations that, alongside quite a number of others, come under the formal umbrella of military operations other than war (MOOTW). What the definition of a military strike is depends on which particular branch of the military is using them. However, they do have formal, general, definitions in the United States Department of Defense's Joint Publication 1-02:
Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS) is a NATO command with its headquarters at Brunssum, the Netherlands. It was established in 2004 from previous commands as part of NATO's continuing command structure reductions in the face of a then-diminishing threat.
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantage through the computer networking of dispersed forces. It was pioneered by the United States Department of Defense in the 1990s.
A United States defense standard, often called a military standard, "MIL-STD", "MIL-SPEC", or (informally) "MilSpecs", is used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense.
A command in military terminology is an organisational unit for which a military commander is responsible. Commands, sometimes called units or formations, form the building blocks of a military. A commander is normally specifically appointed to the role in order to provide a legal framework for the authority bestowed. Naval and military officers have legal authority by virtue of their officer's commission, but the specific responsibilities and privileges of command are derived from the publication of appointment.
Military terminology refers to the terms and language of military organizations and personnel as belonging to a discrete category. As distinguishable by their usage in military doctrine, they serve to depoliticise, dehumanise, or otherwise abstract discussion about its operations from an actual description thereof.
In United States military terminology, a high-value target (HVT) is the term given to a person or resource that an enemy commander requires to complete a mission. The term has been widely used in the news media for Osama Bin Laden and high-ranking officers of Al-Qaeda. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was known as High Value Target Number One by the United States military before his capture.
Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation's armed forces, though not considered military. Armed forces that are not a part of military or paramilitary organizations, such as insurgent forces, often mimic military organizations, or use these structures, while formal military organization tends to use hierarchical forms.
Command and control is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... [that] employs human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or enterprise, according to a 2015 definition by military scientists Marius Vassiliou, David S. Alberts, and Jonathan R. Agre. The term often refers to a military system.
Force protection (FP) refers to the concept of protecting military personnel, family members, civilians, facilities, equipment and operations from threats or hazards in order to preserve operational effectiveness and contribute to mission success. It is used as a doctrine by members of NATO.
A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed by the general population or specific enemy forces.
Direct action (DA) is a term used in the context of military special operations for small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage or similar actions.
The Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) is a Chairman's Controlled Activity and is designated as DoD's office of primary responsibility for DoD-wide personnel recovery (PR) matters, less policy. JPRA is headquartered in Fort Belvoir, Virginia with schools located in Fredericksburg, VA and Spokane, WA. JPRA currently provides for commanders, forces, and individuals on joint PR activities through development and conduct of education and training courses, and specialized individual training. The agency assesses, advises, and evaluates PR curriculum and establishes Joint PR standards in collaboration with the DoD Components for formal Joint PR training, including Code of Conduct and SERE. JPRA also provides DoD Components with analytical support, technology research and integration, maintenance of databases and archives, and development of lessons learned. JPRA encourages partnerships by assisting with non-DoD agencies, multinational partners, and others, with PR-related education and training programs.
Joint force air component commander (JFACC) is a United States Department of Defense doctrinal term. It is pronounced "Jay-Fack".
Joint Force Land Component Commander (JFLCC), is a United States Department of Defense doctrinal term. It is pronounced "Jay-Flick".
Joint Force Maritime Component Command (JFMCC), is a United States Department of Defense doctrinal term.
A joint base (JB) is a base of the armed forces of the United States utilized by multiple military services; one service hosts one or more other services as tenants on the base. In most cases, joint bases have interservice support agreements (ISSAs) to govern how the host provides services to the tenants.